Letters To A Young Poet *

You are so young, so much before all beginning, and I would like to beg you, dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.

But everything that may someday be possible for many people, the solitary man can now, already, prepare and build with his own hands, which make fewer mistakes. Therefore, dear Sir, love your solitude and try to sing out with the pain it causes you. For those who are near you are far away, you write, and this shows that the space around you is beginning to grow vast. And if what is near you is far away, then your vastness is already among the stars and is very great; be happy about your growth, in which of course you can't take anyone with you, and be gentle with those who stay behind; be confident and calm in front of them and don't torment them with your doubts and don't frighten them with your faith or joy, which they wouldn't be able to comprehend. When you see them, love life in a form that is not your own and be indulgent toward those who are growing old, who are afraid of the alone-ness that you trust. Don't ask for any advice from them and don't expect any understanding; but believe in a love that is being stored up for you like an inheritance, and have faith that in this love there is a strength and a blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it. 

Being an artist means: not numbering and counting, but ripening like a tree, which doesn't force its sap, and stands confidently in the storms of spring, not afraid that afterward summer may not come. It does come. But it comes only to those who are patient, who are there as if eternity lay before them, so unconcernedly silent and vast. I learn it every day of my life, learn it with pain I am grateful for: patience is everything! 

Keep growing, silently and earnestly, through your while development; you couldn't disturb it any more violently than by looking outside and waiting for outside answers to questions that only your innermost feeling, in your quietest hour, can perhaps answer.

To walk inside yourself and meet no one for hours - that is what you must be able to attain.

How High Is Up?

I have heard: There was a young man who searched for greater and greater hostilities, for he believed that nothing of real value is obtained easily. Finally he located an ancient monastery in the Himalayas whose monks had taken the most severe vows of poverty and hostility. This monastery was on the summit of a great mountain peak, and the monks had to climb and descend by hauling themselves up and down the iron chains that were hammered into the mountain face. No heat was allowed in the monastery, and the monks slept on the cold stone floors. For sustenance the monks descended the chains each day to pry up the frozen ground in search of a few bits of food. The remainder of the time they meditated, chanted, and made offerings. These practices pleased the young man, and he was granted permission to remain with them. The monk’s form of meditation was to contemplate various riddles, and shortly after the young man’s arrival, the Abbot of the monastery posed this question: How High Is Up? Then he instructed the young man to meditate for one month and return with the answer. It was difficult to think about anything sense he was constantly shivering, but the harshness was a challenge to the young man, and after a month had passed he was confident of the answer. Again the Abbot asked: How High Is Up? The young man replied: As High As Man’s Mind May Imagine It To Be. But the Abbot gave him a look of disdain and said meditate for another month, and the young man did. When the month had passed he met with the Abbot, and his answer was: Up Is As High As God Wills It To Be. Again he was rejected, and returned to his meditation. The next month, when asked the same question, He Said Not A Word, But Raised One Cold Stiff Finger And Pointed Up. Again he was sent away. Each month he became more and more convinced that no answer could ever satisfy the Abbot, and the young man’s frustration increased. The next time he saw the Abbot and the question was asked, his voice was filled with suppressed anger: This Is Foolishness! There Is No Answer! And again he was sent away, this time with more mockery than usual, for the Abbot knew the young man was close to the truth. As he departed from the presence of the Abbot the young man vowed to make a last attempt to discover the answer. He stopped eating even the few bits of food, and maintained a vigil atop the roof that raised over the mountains. When the long month finally ended, the other monks removed him from the roof, and tried to thaw him out so that he could speak with the Abbot. Then the question was asked again: How High Is Up? The young man looked blank for a second, then suddenly he screamed, and jumped violently up and down several times, and before anyone could stop him, he leaped across the room and kicked the monk so hard that he was thrown to the floor.The monks rushed the aid of the Abbot and lifted him up. As soon as he recovered he smiled and said to the young man: You Have Got IT! Then the young man quickly gathered his few possessions and departed from the monastery. By the time he had returned home he was filled with happiness, for he had found truth, and achieved enlightenment. Or perhaps the reason he felt so good, was just because he was warm.

William James - Religion and Neurology

There can be no doubt that as a matter of fact, a religious life, exclusively pursued, does tend to make a person exceptional and eccentric. I speak not now of your ordinary religious believer, who follows the conventional observances of his country, whether it be Buddhist, Christian, or Mohammedan. His religion has been made for him by others, communicated to him by tradition, determined to fixed forms by imitation, and retained by habit. It would benefit us little to study this second-hand religious life. We must make search rather for the original experiences which were the pattern-setters to all this mass of suggested feeling and imitated conduct. These experiences we can only find in individuals for whom religion exists not as a dull habit, but as an acute fever rather. But such individuals are 'geniuses' in the religious line; and like many other geniuses who have brought forth fruits effective enough for commemoration in the pages of biography, such geniuses have often shown symptoms of nervous instability. Even more perhaps than other kinds of genius, religious leaders have been subject to abnormal psychical visitations. Invariably they have been creatures of exalted emotional sensibility. Often they have led a discordant inner life, and had melancholy during a part of their career. They have known no measure, been liable to obsessions and fixed ideas; and frequently they have fallen into trances, heard voices, seen visions, and presented all sorts of peculiarities which are ordinarily classed as pathological. Often, moreover, these pathological features in their career have helped to give them their religious authority and influence.

The Voice of Happiness

A blind man who lived near an old temple told his love:

"Since I am blind, I cannot watch a person's face, so I must judge his character by the sound of his voice. Ordinarily when I hear someone congratulate another upon his happiness or success, I also hear a secret tone of envy. When condolence is expressed for the misfortune of another, I hear pleasure and satisfaction, as if the one condoling was really glad there was something left to gain in his own world."

"In all my experience, however, your voice was always sincere. Whenever you expressed happiness, I heard nothing but happiness, and whenever you expressed sorrow, that was all I heard."

"If" by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

http://www.transpersonal.com.au/mind/ego-death.htm

ego death is a state of absorption;
the ego does not die but the separate personalities combine
to provide a transpersonal rather than linear perspective on life

beyond personality:
the consciousness of the transpersonal Ego

What if ...
the concepts of "ego-death" are merely the words of a group of people who are trying to analyse the concept of conjugate metamorphosis (Tantra) through the sequential linear left brain analysis thinking program .. based on the preconceptions of what they have been taught to believe?

What if ...
the "ego" or our outward expression in the world does not die, but there is a synergy between the linear mode and a lateral or transpersonal mode of both expression, analysis and understanding - a bit like comparing a 1 bit computer (transistor) to something like a Cray or other parallel processor computer ..

(however it is only the output devices - the ears, eyes and mouth which operate linearly .. whilst the mind operates laterally .. our "input devices " the senses already operate laterally it is only the mind that sees them in operation

What if ...
during this metamorphosis, we change our reference from singular cause-effect into being able to see the overall pattern of events and thus are able to respond from an transpersonal viewpoint (like flying over the countryside instead of looking at the sign posts from the level of the road) .. ?

What if ...
the concept of death is merely the philosophy of a "priesthood" working on the deepest unconscious fear of all - our own mortality - in order to separate human-kind from its potential - which it would have no means of controlling ..?

What if ...
the story of Christ was a metaphor for a man and a group of people who believed in an external God .. then at the crucifixion, we have the metamorphosis and the consciousness of the rising lateral mind as dominant.

In this event, with the collapse of all past belief structures, would not the believer in an external linear God cry out "My God, My God, why has thou forsaken me"

What if ...
the story of the last supper was a metaphor for the "Holy War" fought between the knowing and far vision of the Lateral Mind against the major personality archetypes of the Linear Mind ..?

What if then ...
the "emergence" of the Lateral Mind, metamorphosed with the Linear Mind did not result in any "Death" but in the ability to see an overall picture .. where the Linear Mind was no longer dominant but still fully functional as a possibility of choice.

What if ...
as a result of this, the imprints of the conditioned belief structure was no longer an "active dominant reaction" program but rather a referential "data" bank for the understanding process of the experience of life - much like a reference book to be looked up when needed ..?

What if ...
as a result of this process of the metamorphosis of the "Conditioned Self", it is possible to change both the mtDNA and the nuclear DNA.

and What if ...
that which you are looking for, you already are .. that underneath the need for justification and correction, everything else already exists - except that whilst the one bit linear computer is looking for it, it hasn't got enough data lines to see anything else whilst it is looking ..

and thus
there is nothing to die,
nothing to let go of,
nothing to surrender ..

the conditioned belief structure ..
that it was there when we were very young children ..
but "there" was not a safe place to be because it went against
the conditioned beliefs of our parents and our peers ..

and so, we have spent all of our lives using
the conditioned belief structure and method

to explain and understand ourselves .. and why we feel at
odds with everything that "other's" try to tell us is "the way it is" ..

and that space is knowable, measurable and provable ..
but cannot be seen or understood by anyone who will not
allow that possibility exists within themselves.

and .. what if ...
"death" is the greatest lie you have ever been told.

Buddha's Zen

Buddha said: "I consider the positions of kings and rulers as that of dust mites. I observe treasures of gold and gems as so many bricks and pebbles. I look upon the finest silken robes as tattered rags. I see myriad worlds of the universe as small seeds of fruit, and the greatest lake in India as a drop of oil on my foot. I perceive the teachings of the world to be the illusion of magicians. I discern the highest conception of emancipation as a golden brocade in a dream, and view the holy path of the illuminated ones as flowers appearing in one's eyes. I see meditation as a pillar of a mountain, Nirvana as a nightmare of daytime. I look upon the judgment of right and wrong as the serpentine dance of a dragon, and the rise and fall of beliefs as but traces left by the four seasons."

The Clod and the Pebble by William Blake

"Love seeketh not Itself to please, 
Nor for itself hath any care, 
But for another gives its ease, 
And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair." 

So sung a little Clod of Clay 
Trodden with the cattle's feet, 
But a Pebble of the brook 
Warbled out these metres meet: 

"Love seeketh only Self to please, 
To bind another to Its delight, 
Joys in another's loss of ease, 
And builds a Hell in Heaven's despite."

The Velveteen Rabbit (a definition of realness through love)

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside of you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse, "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand . . . once you are Real, you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."

Freedom

He said, “I have only one desire––to be remembered as a singer of songs, as a dancer, as a poet who has offered all his potential, all his flowers of being, to the unknown divineness of existence. I don’t want to be worshiped; I consider it a humiliation . . . ugly, inhuman, and removed from the world completely. Every man contains God; every cloud, every tree, every ocean is full of godliness, so who is to worship whom?”

Rabindranath never went to any temple, never worshiped any God, was never, in a traditional way, a saint. But to me he is one of the greatest saints the world has known. His saintliness is expressed in each of his words.

Obstinate are the trammels, but my heart aches when I try to break them. Freedom is all I want, but to hope for it I feel ashamed.

He is saying something not only about himself, but about all human consciousness. Such people don’t speak about themselves; they speak about the very heart of all mankind. 

Obstinate are the trammels. . . . The hindrances are great. The chains that prevent my freedom . . . I have become too attached to them. They are no longer chains to me; they have become my ornaments. They are made of gold; they are very precious. But my heart aches, because on the one hand I want freedom and on the other hand I cannot break the chains that prevent me from being free. Those chains, those attachments, those relationships have become my life. I cannot conceive of myself without my beloved, without my friends. I cannot conceive of myself absolutely alone, in deep silence. My songs have also become my fetters, so my heart aches when I try to break them. Freedom is all I want.

This is the situation of every human being. It is difficult to find a man whose heart does not want to fly like a bird in the sky, who would not like to reach to the faraway stars, but who also knows his deep attachment with the earth. His roots are deep in the earth. His split is that he is attached to his imprisonment, and his deepest longing is for freedom. He is divided against himself.

OSHO

Wei Wu Wei

A myriad bubbles were floating on the surface of a stream.
- "What are you?" - I cried to them as they drifted by.

- "I am a bubble of course" - nearly all the bubbles answered
and there was surprise and indignation in their voices as they passed.
But here and there, a lonely bubble answered: "We are this stream"
with neither surprise nor indignation in their voices
but just a quiet certitude

Monopoly

Using science to disprove God's existence, is like using monopoly money to buy the Game.

Using science to actually prove God's existence, is like looking at the monopoly money and realizing that you already had the Game.

Confusion

the problem isnt so much that, 'its dangerous' out there, (in the world)
its really more that, 'its so damn confusing', in that:


if you are NOT confused and you go, then even if it IS dangerous,

you might very well, still be okay


but if you ARE confused and you go, then even if its TOTALLY safe,

you might STILL get screwed - and thats fucked up

I am He, as You are He, as you are me, and WE are altogether

If we are made in his image, then "I am He" in the same way that my picture is me.

My picture is not actually me, but it’s an image of me. You, as a person, are way beyond you, as a picture, but when you look at a photo of yourself it’s kind of like you can see an essence of You the person.
Of course you might look different in one photo than you do in another, but it’s the same person in both. "I am He as You are He" in the same way that one picture is me and another picture is still me; and "you are me" in the same way that two pictures of yourself might look like two different people, but it’s the same person in both.
Think about if you took every single photo of yourself ever taken ever, and put them all together. All together they can give a good idea of who you really are. And if you notice what is the same in all of them, you can get an even better picture. So if people are like images then when "we are all together" we can make up a pretty clear picture. And what is common among all of us is what we have in common with Him.

If we are made in his image, then when we all Come Together, WE are He.

Avatar On Love

Love has to spring spontaneously from within: and it is in no way amenable to any form of inner or outer force. Love and coercion can never go together; but though love cannot be forced on anyone, it can be awakened in him through love itself. Love is essentially self-communicative. Those who do not have it catch it from those who have it. True love is unconquerable and irresistable; and it goes on gathering power and spreading itself, until eventually it transforms everyone whom it touches.

- Meher Baba

The Prize

Despite the harsh conditions outside, I feel a thorough calmness, and shelter from the storm so intensely affecting my mother, and no doubt my brother as well. I cannot say with certainty exactly why this is, but whatever the reason, it is good. My shelter extends much farther, although only has grown so far fairly recently. I feel deep peace despite turmoil. I have dropped many of my worldly concerns, some of which I will not mention now, but it is liberating. The greatest advice I've received to date (or at least the advice I am most actively applying) is: "do not fight/resist the natural course of (your) life." This single sentiment is to thank for my peace. Indeed, this is the state of the birds and the lilies. My continued survival is a testament to the truth of the birds. I have not yet received the prize of the lilies, but this does not concern me. In fact, should I never receive it, it would not matter at all. The state itself is beyond it, such that it reduces the allure of the prize to that of the most trivial, and even mundane (dare I say, vulgar) of things. It is as though I have aquired a kingdom. So what need is there for a crown? If I didn't know better, I would simply regard it as a hollow and empty symbol, just as any other of worldly status. The king does not need to be told he is the greatest—he is! Being told so means nothing. Being declared so is meaningless. Suppose I were to tell you something (remind you of something) grand: the greatest secret of all. Then I said: you are alive! The anti-climactic lack of a reaction is similar to offering the prize of the lilies to someone in the state of the lily.

Academy

The Forgotten One sent a raven to attack the truth. The Good One sent a dove to defend it. Because of the power of the Forgotten One, the raven was given a head-start. But the Good One knew that he must protect the truth, and so he laid himself down, that the dove might achieve godspeed. The dove arrived at the truth first. It clothed the truth in a good word, so that when the raven came to stain it, the stain would wash away and be forgotten. I would like to thank he who sent an angel in the name of the "academy."

The Will of the Almighty: Inheretance by Baptism of Spirit

I could not clearly see it until it was reflected back to me. I was lucky enough to see one "lay down" for the sake of the truth. In this way, he made a donation to the lord, a sacrifice to the God of Gods: he gave up his own self interest in the interest of the Most High. In this way, he illustrated his devotion. He was dedicated not to a human, but to humanity; not to a man, but to mankind; not to one, but to all---and thus, one became all, that all might be one.

The Johns: Gamma

"Christ is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:2)

That is an explicit statement in agreement with the implicit statement in Timothy 4:10. Also, Pope Francis declared that atheists can be saved by redemption (if I remember correctly).

I clearly don't need to point out how huge that is, but I will any way: that is really huge. That means that no one group can hold a monopoly on salvation, but that is truly is a free gift.

It seems: "we deceive ourselves" = "we make him a liar." It is as if "he" is us and we are "he." (1 John 1:8-10)

Woah! I think... the internal is God Himself. That would explain the phrase "Christ in the flesh." I understand. Thank you, Father.

For most of us, the internal self and the external self are at constant odds with each other. If the internal self can overcome the external self, then we "know fully, even as we are fully known."

Another name for the internal is the spirit. Another name for the external is the flesh.

If the flesh overcomes the spirit, if the external overcomes the internal, we die (or we may as well be dead). But if the spirit overcomes the flesh, if the internal overcomes the external, we achieve eternal life.

Ha, that is why righteousness is immortal. Because then we can bear the truth about ourselves, and our hearts will live for ever, as King David has said.

The internal self must conquer the external self. In doing so, we reign over ourselves. We are not the body, we are what the body houses. Ya might call it the psyche. Or rather, the psyche is the battle ground. We are the awareness of existence. That is, we are the notion of "I am." We are the house. I am is pure spirit. If the spirit can dominate the body, as it was intended to, then we will live the truth. We will obey God's commands. The will of I am will be done as effortlessly by the body as it is by the mind. Becoming One, then, means that the inner and outer are so in sync, that the awareness of the distinction between the two fades away. Negativity reinforces the distinction. Positivity does the exact opposite. What the flesh perceives as negativity is called "evil." When we resist not evil, when we can let go of our fear of it, we are no longer controlled by it. Should we be able to actually love our enemy, which is the fleshly experience of evil, we override the flesh by force of the spirit. By loving everything, we take away the power of the flesh. By taking away the power of the flesh, we may be liberated from it. By liberation from the flesh, we may achieve mastery over the flesh. By mastery of the spirit over the flesh, we arrive at a new earth. The new heaven was that which no longer enjoys being ruled by the flesh.

That's what "rule over all" (Thomas 2:4) was about. Moving Mountains is simply a large degree of self control.

Earth = body, Sea = emotion, Sky = mind, Heaven = spirit (???).



Indeed, the truth will set us free.

WISDOM MEANS TO KNOW THYSELF.

TO KNOW THYSELF IS WISDOM.

The Johns: Beta

There are strong correlations between: Love, Light, Life.
There are strong correlations between: Hate, Darkness, Death.

I began to read the Books of John, and by the second chapter, I noticed a pattern. They are a puzzle.

Key phrases include: "in the light," "born of God," "obey commandments," "abide," "love," "truth" and "anointed."

There's this overwhelming yet understated suggestion that "pursuing righteousness" is "belief," and "being Christlike" is "salvation."

It is my conclusion that it has nothing to do with theology, and everything to do with conduct.

"If we walk in the light, the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. Whoever loves, lives in the light." (1 John 1:7-2:10)

"Whoever says, 'I am in the light,' while hating, still walks in the darkness, and does not know the way, because the darkness has brought on blindness."

"This is love: that we walk according to his commandments. This is his commandment: that we should love one another."

All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. Those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them."




"Everyone who does what is right is righteous." (1 John 3:7)
"Everyone who loves is born of God." (1 John 4:7)

The Johns: Alpha

We declare to you...what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands...we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us.

If we hide ourselves, we walk in darkness. There is no darkness in God. Those who have fellowship with God and with us walk in the light. Those who walk in the light do not hide themselves, but reveal their faults.

If we say we are without fault, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we say we are without fault, we make God a liar, and His Word is not in us.

If we walk in the light, the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin; he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 John 1:7-2:2

Now by this we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments. Whoever says, "I have come to know him," but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist; but whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we may be sure that we are in him: whoever says, "I abide in him," ought to walk just as he walked.

1 John 2:3-6

This passage says nothing about theology. It says, 'whoever lives it, is it.' Certainly, a non-christian can obey the commands just as easily as any christian. Conduct and theology are two separate things. Therefore a non-christian can "know him" and it is possible for a Christian to not "know him." Any atheist who is chrislike, who "walks as he walked" may claim to "abide in him." Thus, "belief in God" is not a requirement for "knowledge of God" nor is it a requirement for "abiding in Christ." Moreover, "the love of God has reached perfection" in such christlike people; that is, to "obey his word" is to "walk as he walked," not to adhere to some theology and tradition. In fact, not only is it entirely possible to obey they commands without theology, it entirely possible to obey the commands without even knowing what the commands are, or that there is even such a concept as God. Paul calls such people, "a law unto themselves."

Whoever says, "I am in the light," while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light.

1 John 2:9-10

Love and Hate require no theology, yet they determine Salvation and Damnation.

But whoever hates another believer is on the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness.

1 John 2:11

Let us remember that "believer" and "Christian" no longer mean the same thing. A Christian adheres to a theology and upholds a tradition. A believer lives a Christlike life. "Righteous" is a synonym for "Christlike." Hatred of the noble and good is blindness. The blind are the persecutors of the righteous.

Tales From The Tao: The Horse Breeder

Pen Lo had bred horses for the duke for many years. Now he was getting old and the duke asked him if there was anyone in his family who would be able to take over for him.

Pen Lo said, "You can tell a high-quality horse by looking at its muscles and appearance, but the best horses are the ones that cannot be judged by their appearance only. You must be able to see their inner nature. No one in my family has this ability, but I do know of one man who might be able to help you. He is a poor man who hauls wood and vegetables for a living yet he has the ability to differentiate the great horse from the merely good."

The duke was happy then and sent for the man and asked him to find him a special horse. The man was gone for three months and then sent word to the duke that he had found such a horse.

"What kind of horse is it?" asked the duke.

"It is a yellow mare," came the answer.

So the duke sent for the horse and it turned out to be a black stallion. He was angry then and sent for Pen Lo. "The man you sent me knows nothing about horses," he said. "He cannot even tell a mare from a stallion, never mind yellow from black."

Pen Lo's face lit up. "Ah," he said, "It is even better than I had hoped. His ability is now ten thousand times greater than mine. He has completely transcended judging a horse by its appearance and sees only its inner nature. When he looks at the horse he does not see a male or females or what color it is but instead to its very essence. In this way he can see the potential for greatness in a horse."

Indeed, when he had sent for the horse, the duke found that it was the greatest horse he had ever seen.

LIEH TZU

Ode To A French Kiss

Beautifully rose painted lips press together to form that familiar symbol of love. As soft as the pedals they resemble, they seem to cry out and beg for companionship. As love itself is born from its own and gently makes request, to partake can only lead to the inevitable longing for more. No man could ever possess the strength to resist. A Kiss knows this, and as part-angel & part-devil, cannot help but captivate the lustful nature of a lucky fool. Hugged between flowery moments of bliss, such bright smiles could only hope to be outdone by the shine of the warm summer sun.

But you my dear, are the Queen; a royalty, a divinity, to which all other kisses bow down, and yet aspire to be. You are as brilliant and eligant as the tongue after which you are named, yet you are wherever love may be. Sweeter than sugarcoated honey, smooth and often softer than silk, you perpetually leave behind a hint of the essence of your lovelust that instantly conjures the unquenchable desire for your immediate return.

Some say you have magic about you. I say it is magic how you defy the constraints of time. You cause it to fly. You could make an eternity of an instant, and pass in a heartbeat. And it is by that very token that you are the soul of mystery. How obvious it is that you come from the heavens. You so nonchalantly disregard all the rules to which all else is made slave. Your illustrious nature outshines earthly things, as the moon outshines the stars.

Impossible to master, except by those lucky two, who possess hearts so overwhelmed by the thought of each other's presence that they lose themselves, but not one another, in the naturally flawless motions of such pristine moments. They might always seem to be over a little too quickly, except for those which, by nature, surely could only grace a pair of true lovers—they last forever—and the end is nothing, only the possibility of beginning.

One Tasty Toadstool

One tasty toadstool, of unimaginable size,
Has brought the world, and all the cosmos, right before my eyes.

Such clarity’s a rarity, and most just cannot see,
How in truth, we can in fact, hallucinate reality.

So listen and I’ll tell you, what I have come to know with pride,
All that I have learned, upon my magic carpet ride.

Well, the way you move in space, leaves behind a hidden trace,
Of the heart you hold inside, and not the shadows where you hide.
The souls of men, revealed in time, without a button to rewind,
Are you so confident to say, you know and love, what you will find?
How bright the light illuminates, from the puritanic soul,
Tell me friend, do you still glow, or have you lost what use to show?

With good intentions, science mentions, that religion is a lie.
But with science, there's reliance, on imperfect human eyes.
Sometimes some things aren't seen in sight, known only to the heart.
No metaphoric allegory, that's the truth, at least a part.
So open up, inside to see, what no-mind understands:
That the true nature of God, can be found within our hands.

There's music playing all around, just waiting to be found.
But it takes more than ears to hear, the beauty of the sound.

The saddest song that ever played: the one with all the answered laid,
But only to be seen as strange, just silly words all rearranged.